Blue Bombers discover you can't kill the cowbell

Winnipeg Blue Bombers discover you can't kill the cowbell

“I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.” – Christopher Walken, playing music producer Bruce Dickinson in the April 2000 Saturday Night Live comedy sketch on a mock recording of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper.

It turns out the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will not be banning cowbells after all.

Fan outrage has led to a reversal on a policy the Blue Bombers were introducing for the upcoming season that would have outlawed the noisemakers from home games.

“After listening to our fans, we would like to inform everyone that over-the-counter-purchased cowbells will be permitted at home games this season,” Bombers vice-president Jim Bell said in a statement released on the club’s website. “But homemade noisemakers such as empty paint cans with rocks inside or any other device that may be deemed unsafe by our security staff will not be permitted.”

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Winnipeg supporters expressed their frustration with the policy change through social media platforms Monday, leading the organization to backtrack on its decision.

“It was never our intention to diminish the fan experience, and we do encourage fans to bring thunder sticks, clappers and plastic horns powered by human voice, however, all of which will be at the sole discretion of the football club,” the Bombers said in the statement.

The about-face did not exactly quell the furor, as many interpreted the amended policy as saying only those noisemakers from which the team generates revenue will be permitted. The Bombers, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, had been selling cowbells in their store until recently.

“Translation: if the fans are putting money into our pockets we will allow it. If not, it’s banned,” one obviously perturbed fan wrote on the team’s Facebook page.

“Can I still use the cowbell iPhone app!” another wrote.

The Bombers are not the first organization to try to kill the cowbell, without success.

Saskatchewan curling fans were told their cowbells were not welcome at the Capital One Canada Cup of Curling in Cranbrook, B.C., last December.

“We’ve always received complaints, we’ve had to move fans, we’ve had to refund tickets, and it’s a problem,” Warren Hansen, the CCA’s director of event operations, told Postmedia’s Allen Cameron then. “And we aren’t unique in that; the NFL doesn’t allow any noisemakers at all, for the same reason.”

The CCA also backtracked after reaction to the ban was negative, saying certain venues — not the curling organization — had rules against noisemakers and a security guard had enforced rules too strictly.